Inspired by Matt's 'Stream like a CEO' post, I went down the rabbit hole of improving my own setup for video conferencing. Since I'm in a customer facing role, I think it's important to look and sound as good as possible. What follows is how I incrementally improved my video conferencing equipment over the past few years.

Unless you're running one of the newer MacBooks that have excellent microphones, buy a USB mic. Four years ago, I bought an ATR2100 for $70 that can connect via USB directly into my computer. Today, it looks like Amazon is selling the ATR2500 as a replacement. The most notable improvement to me was that it removed the 'tinny' echo that exists with most speakerphones. I used to use a Jabra speakerphone and while it was convenient for me (especially the mute button that shines red), it sounded like I was talking in a submarine. With the advent of realtime audio processing in Zoom, Teams, and other videoconferencing services, this may be less of a need, but I haven't tested it recently.

If I were to upgrade from my current setup, I'd buy a Shure SM7B, but then I'd also have to get an XLR to USB interface. If I were to start recording more audio for my job, I'd look into it.

Adequate and balanced lighting will improve any webcam setup. I started with an inexpensive ring light that was powered by USB. This was perfectly adequate because I could adjust color temperature and brightness from a wired controller.

I upgraded to an El Gato Key Light Air that was brighter and could be controlled from my computer. Since my brother gave me an El Gato Stream Deck, I've configured some shortcuts to toggle it on an off near my keyboard. Most of the time I leave the temperature and brightness at a standard setting, but if I'm preparing for something notable, I'll adjust things so I'm evenly lit because I have a window on one side of my office.

The webcam built in to any laptop is not great and an upgrade to Logitech's C920 is a big improvement for under $100. It’s also simple and works with most computers. This paired with a decent lighting setup is typically a huge upgrade over just using the laptop’s internal webcam. I used to travel with a C920 so I could have a better video setup in a hotel room, but now I just use my iPhone’s camera in landscape mode.

Since I was giving several screencasts and remote sales presentations, I wanted to upgrade the quality of my video and get a bit of bokeh. I ended up buying a Sony ZV-1 and pairing that with an El Gato Cam Link 4K to take the live HDMI output and feed that to my computer as a webcam. I run a micro HDMI from the camera to the Cam Link, then plug that directly into my computer. 

Is it worth it? It certainly looks more professional, but it’s a bit more fiddly and significantly more expensive. I’m sure it would look even better with a proper mirrorless camera (like the Sony a7C), but that’s a few thousand extra.

The final upgrade here is to add in a teleprompter so that your eyes can be focused looking in to the camera instead of looking below or to the side. When recording a screencast or having a face to face meeting, the direct eye contact makes things feel closer to in person meetings.

I bought a Glide Gear teleprompter and put the Sony camera inside. While I could use something like an old iPad, I bough a small 1080p monitor that fits nicely. I use OBS to reverse the screen of the monitor so I can read anything that's shared, but since it's relatively small, I don't find it the most useful for detailed demos or if someone is sharing slides with too much text. It shines when it's video only, or if I'm sharing a presentation myself.